


Appa and Coffee Hyung

by theblacktulip



Category: VIXX
Genre: But I still got loads of fun writing it, Fluff, I'm not moving out from that site per se, Just trying to post some of my favourite stories here, M/M, Some of the parts/plot here kinda makes me cringe when I read it back, This is one of my favourite stories that I've ever written, This story is definitely fluff and got no other genre I feel like, This story was posted on AFF years ago
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-07-23 04:38:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16151759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theblacktulip/pseuds/theblacktulip
Summary: Jung Taekwoon was a single father with two adorable kids; 6 years-old Hongbin and 4 years-old Sanghyuk. This is a story of how he met a beautiful, golden-haired barista whom his sons called as Coffee Hyung.





	1. Chapter 1

“Come on boys, let’s go inside and get something to eat!” Taekwoon held his maknae Sanghyuk on his arm and ushered his oldest Hongbin to quickly go inside the cafe. It was autumn after all, and even though the weather is relatively sunny, didn’t mean that standing outside for too long was a great idea, with all of those wind blowing around. Especially when Taekwoon got his two children with him.

“But appa, you promised we would go visit halmoni today!” The oldest whined while refusing to enter the cafe.

Taekwoon sighed and kneeled, still holding Sanghyuk on one of his arm. “Hongbin-ah, I did promise that but you have to eat something first before the long trip, okay?”

The 6 years-old kid still didn’t answer, even though he knew his father was right. He’s just too excited for his first trip to his grandmother’s house that he had been planning about for weeks since his father promised it to him.

“Hongbin-ah..” Taekwoon patted the boy’s head, “Don’t you want to buy some bread for halmoni? You know she likes it.” He said softly.

The boy’s eyes lit, “Yes I do! Let’s go inside!” He chirped excitedly and entered the cafe by his own will. The 4 years-old little brother also got excited and laughed cheerfully when he saw his hyung chirped.

The father breathed a sigh of relieve and smiled. Then he turned his attention towards the maknae on his arm, “You’re excited too, little Sanghyuk? Come on, let’s go inside.”

Taekwoon entered the cafe and immediately noticed how empty it was. It was only 10AM on Saturday anyway, of course it would be empty. Soon, he was greeted with a cheerful greetings (almost as cheerful as Hongbin’s voice earlier) from an employee standing behind the cash register.

“Welcome to Coffee Drop! What can I do for you today?” A tanned, golden-haired man greeted him with a sincere smile. It was so sincere and beautiful it made Taekwoon stunned for a moment, before he realised that his oldest son was getting impatient.

“I want bread!” Hongbin shouted before Taekwoon even have the chance to talk. The father silently thanked God that the cafe was empty, or else he was sure that some people would be annoyed by his son’s high-pitched voice.

The golden-haired man went over the counter and saw little Hongbin stood there all giddy to order.

“Hello, little boy,” said the golden-haired man with a smile, “You want to order some bread? What kind of bread?” He pointed at the counter that displayed variety of breads. “Our specialties is coffee-flavoured bread, do you wanna try some?” He explained softly.

Hongbin thought for a second nodding vigorously as an answer, “I want coffee bread! I want five!”

“Whoa! That’s many! Sure you can finish all of it?” The golden-haired man asked again with a hint of chuckles in his voice.

“It wasn’t for me,” Hongbin answered brightly, “It’s for my halmoni! She likes bread soooooo much!”

The employee chuckled at the little kid’s cute action. “Okay then, five coffee breads coming right up!” He input the order on the cash register and went over the counter again, looking at little Hongbin. “Don’t you want something for yourself? We also got a delicious chocolate cake and cheesecake.” He asked again, this time with a wink.

Hongbin seemed to contemplate the offer for a moment, “I want chocolate cake please. And cheesecake for my brother. Hyukkie loves cheese!” He then answered while pointing at Sanghyuk who’s still on his father’s embrace.

The golden-haired man chuckled again while inputting the order. Then he switched his attention to Taekwoon, who hasn’t said a word ever since he stepped inside the cafe.

“What about you, sir?” He asked with a soft smile, “Do you want anything for yourself?”

Taekwoon snapped back into reality and replied the sincere smile of the golden-haired man, “Add one more bread coffee for me. I also would like an English Breakfast tea and two hazelnut hot chocolate for my son.”

The employee nodded and totalled the order, “That’d be 30,500 won.” Taekwoon paid for the order when the golden-haired man asked again, “I’m sorry, I forgot to ask for your name.”

Taekwoon stunned, ‘ _Did he just ask me for my name?’_

He was about to blush when he realised that the man must be asking for his name since he need to write it down for his order.

“J-Jung Taekwoon.” He managed to answer with a slight stutter. _‘That’s embarrassing.’_ He thought to himself, but the employee didn’t seem to notice it since he was so busy writing ‘Jung Taekwoon’ on all the cups of Taekwoon’s orders.

“Here’s the receipt and change, thank you for your orders! I will prepare it right away.”

Before the beautiful golden-haired man got busy with the orders, Taekwoon glanced at the golden name tag pinned on his black apron and read, _‘Cha Hakyeon.’_

_———_

“Hyung, I think that guy was starstruck. By you.” A barista with _‘Lee Jaehwan’_ written on his name tag nudged Hakyeon’s shoulder, who were busy cleaning up the counter after he was done preparing the orders for his customer named Jung Taekwoon. “Maybe he got a crush on you!”

“What guy?” The golden-haired barista asked, without shifting his attention from what he’s currently doing.

“The guy with two little adorable kids, you know, the tall one with black coat and black hair.”

Hakyeon sighed and stopped cleaning, “That’s impossible, Jaehwan-ah. He’s married. You saw those two little kids? M-A-R-R-I-E-D.”

“I don’t see any ring on his finger..” Jaehwan muttered, “Maybe he’s divorced.”

“So what?” Hakyeon answered, slightly annoyed tone in his voice.

“You dumb. I’ve told you earlier. Maybe he likes you or something, because he’s clearly starstruck while looking at you when you were busy talking with his son!”

Hakyeon sighed again, “The fact that he got two sons, not one, kinda proven that he’s straight, you idiot. You need a WIFE, a WOMAN, to be able to have kids.”

Jaehwan grinned, “Well, everything’s possible, my dear hyung. And you also can’t deny the fact that he’s one good looking man. So good looking that it made you asked for his name even though you didn’t need to, as he’s the only customer you got earlier.” Then he laughed as he noticed his co-worker’s face redden at his statement. _‘Gotcha!”_

The older co-worker shot a glare at the younger, “Shut up and get back to work already!”


	2. Chapter 2

Next Saturday, Taekwoon found himself and the boys standing in front of the cafe again. _‘What is wrong with me, what am I even doing here…’_ He thought to himself. Then he saw Hongbin marched in to the cafe without even waiting for him so he managed to convince himself that he came to the cafe because of his oldest son’s request, not because he want to see a certain golden-haired barista.

“Welcome to Coffee Drop! What can— Oh! Good morning, sir!”

The barista named Cha Hakyeon was standing behind the counter again, greeting him with his smile. Taekwoon was a little bit taken aback because he didn’t expect to get recognise when it’s only his second time visiting. But hey, at least he was memorable enough that the person he had hope to remember him did recognise him.

“Hello little kid.” Hakyeon waved to the little Hongbin who’s already standing giddily in front of the counter.

“Hello, coffee hyung!”

The barista laughed, “So my name is coffee hyung now?”

“Yes!” Hongbin nodded, “Because halmoni said you make the best coffee bread ever!”

The barista laughed again, mostly because it’s not him who made the bread, but the pastry chef who worked on the kitchen. But he thought that maybe this adorable kid didn’t need to know that little secret.

“I’m sorry,” The father approached the counter and apologised on behalf of his son. “Hongbin always feel the need to give everyone a nickname to his liking.” He smiled sheepishly.

“Ah no, that’s okay. It’s adorable.” Hakyeon laughed, which sounded so melodic to Taekwoon’s ear.

‘ _I swear there’s something wrong with me.’_ Taekwoon thought to himself again.

“So your name is Hongbin, little kid?” Hakyeon asked again, shifting his attention back to the 6 years-old.

“Yes!” Hongbin nodded excitedly, “And my brother’s name is Hyukkie!” He added again when his little brother followed him to stand in front of the counter, although his father corrected him, “It’s Sanghyuk, Hongbin-ah.”

“Okay! Hongbin, Sanghyuk, what would you like for today?” Hakyeon smiled, looking at the two brothers.

Hongbin scrunched his face and appeared to be thinking while Sanghyuk already pointed his finger to one of the pastry displayed, the strawberry tart. “I… want that. Appa.” The little brother said.

“You want that?” Taekwoon kneeled to ask to his maknae and saw him nodded, “But you have to finish it, promise?” Sanghyuk nodded again. The father smiled got back up to his feet, “One strawberry tart, please.” He said to the barista, not forgetting to add the best smile he could pull off.

“Only one? You sure you don’t want—” Hakyeon unconsciously asked like he was talking to his friend when he suddenly realised that the man in front of him was in fact, his customer. “Oh no, I mean… Oh my God. I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to be rude.” Hakyeon clamped his hand over his mouth and his cheek flushed. He bowed down several times while apologising and hoping that Taekwoon wouldn’t be put off by such treatment by an employee like him.

Hakyeon was ready to apologize one more time when he found the man in front of him chuckled instead of getting mad.

“That’s okay, Hakyeon.” He said, and it’s effectively made Hakyeon gaped as he didn’t even know that Taekwoon knew his name.

“Uh… I mean, I read your name tag, it’s Cha Hakyeon, isn’t it?” Taekwoon explained, “Is that okay if I call you just by your name? Since Hongbinnie even calls you as Coffee Hyung…” He trailed off his sentences.

Hakyeon returned the chuckles and held out his hand for a handshake to the father, “Well, since you might become one of our regulars here, let’s be friends and do a proper introduction.” He smiled, no, he practically beamed at the dark-haired man in front of him, “Hello Taekwoon, yes, I do remember your name from last week, my name is Cha Hakyeon. I’m the barista and also co-owner of this cafe. Nice to meet you and your boys.”

The taller man smiled shyly but shook the hand of this new-found friend he got, “Nice to meet you too.”

All the while the two adults weren’t aware that there were two pairs of eyes that observed them with Hongbin even forgot what he wanted to order and only whispered to his younger brother instead, _“Appa likes Coffee hyung!”_

———

Jaehwan came to the cafe right before Taekwoon and the boys were going to go.

“Bye Coffee hyung! See you next week!”

Jaehwan heard a high-pitched voice from the door and saw a little kid he identified as _Hakyeon’s crush’s kid_ waving at Hakyeon. Then he also saw the father smiled and nodded his head to his co-worker before finally leaving the cafe.

“What was that?” Jaehwan asked while wiggling his eyebrows at his co-worker, “‘See you next week’? You’re progressing fast, aren’t you! It’s only been two weeks but you already captured his son’s heart!”

“Shut up.” Hakyeon responded shortly, trying to ignore his blushing face caused by his co-worker’s statement. “And for the record, you’re late. Two freaking hours late!”

Jaehwan laughed, “Don’t try to steer the conversation here, hyung. I’ve already told you yesterday I’m going to be late today so don’t pretend that you suddenly forgot. Or…” He grinned. “Did you forgot about it because a certain someone came here with his kids?”

“LEE JAEHWAN, SHUT UP!!!!”

The younger co-worker laughed out loud and made a mental note that he should come early every Saturday to grab any chance to tease his adorable hyung.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I divide the chapters differently from how I did it in AFF. My preferences have changed and nowadays I find myself liking to read shorter chapters more than super long one.

It was becoming a habit for Taekwoon to bring his kids to Hakyeon’s cafe every Saturday to have a breakfast. He reasoned with himself, _‘Because it’s nice to have some kind of ritual to do with the boys on my day off.’_ And, _‘Hongbin and Sanghyuk really like the pastry sold there.’_ And, _“The boys are so fond of their Coffee hyung.’_ But of course he’s having a hard time to admit to himself that a certain co-owner of the cafe was also high up in the list of why he’s so excited to go there every week. And it’s been around seven weeks in a row since Taekwoon and his boys started this weekend-ly thing. (He did count.)

But not this week. It was 9AM on Saturday morning, but Taekwoon was already confined on his work chair behind his desk at his office because he has to work overtime since there’s an upcoming project in his company and his boss asked Taekwoon to help him in the preparation of the proposal. Which means that he can’t go to the cafe with his boys and he also can’t met Hakyeon. He sighed and rubbed his temple while thinking that maybe he can go there tomorrow.

_Buzz._

He suddenly felt his phone vibrated inside his pocket and decided to take a break from his work and check his phone, in case it’s anything emergency from his little sister who’s currently baby-sitting both Hongbin and Sanghyuk… And he was right. It was from his sister.

_Sender: Eunjijijiji~rong!_

_Message: Oppaaaaaaa!! Who is coffee hyung and where’s the cafe that Hongbinnie kept talking about? I’m confused! *o*_

Taekwoon chuckled seeing the name of the sender, his little sister must changed her contact name on his phone because last time he remembered, he put her as plain ‘Eunji’ in his phone. Seems like his 23 years-old sister would never really lose her childish side. But well, that’s what makes her different from him, Taekwoon is the mature and gentle one while Eunji is the playful and carefree one. Rapidly, he typed a reply message.

_To: Eunjijijiji~rong!_

_Message: Did you change your contact name in my phone again? Coffee hyung is the barista that works in the cafe several buildings away my apartment. You know Coffee Drop?_

Not even a full minute after he replied, his phone buzzed again with the reply from his sister.

_Sender: Eunjijijiji~rong!_

_Message: It’s Binnie who changed my contact name! :p OH! I know that place. Seen it several times on my way to your apartment. Hongbinnie and Hyukkie asked to go there, can we go? They said you always bring there to have breakfast on Saturday to meet Coffee hyung and now they refused to eat breakfast if we didn’t go there… HELP ME HERE OPPA!_

Taekwoon smiled. It’s very endearing to hear that his boys seemed to talk a lot about their Coffee Hyung. Or at least Hongbin did, Taekwoon guessed. There weren’t many cases where he would find other person beside him and his family that can genuinely get close to Hongbin and Sanghyuk, and it’s not like the boys were easy to get close with new people anyway. So that’s why when he did found that one person who seemed genuinely care about his boys, whom also coincidentally was a person of his interest, Taekwoon was pleased.

_To: Eunjijijiji~rong!_

_Message: You can go there, but don’t forget to dress warm. I don’t want them, or you, to fall sick. And also, let them pick what they wanna eat but make sure they eat something filling and make sure they finished whatever they ordered, okay?_

He then waited for her last reply, which came after several minutes.

_Sender: Eunjijijiji~rong!_

_Message: Understood, sir! I will be the best aunty ever! To the cafe shall we go!_

Taekwoon laughed for the last time he read the reply he received from Eunji but then remembered that he still got his stacked documents and a proposal waiting to be worked on.


	4. Chapter 4

“Coffee hyung!!!” Hongbin called loudly as he entered the cafe, while Sangyuk silently, but excitedly followed his brother behind him. Eunji can only chuckled at her nephew’s behaviour while trying to tell them not to run, even though they didn’t seem to hear her.

“Hongbin-ah, Sanghyuk-ah! I thought you guys won’t be coming today!” Hakyeon who were busy cleaning up a table quickly stood up kneeled in front of the two boys.

“Appa is working today, that’s why we’re late!” Hongbin answered excitedly.

Hakyeon hummed and ruffled both of the little boys’ hair. He then noticed a woman standing not faraway from the boys and he could feel that his heart fell. A little bit. He already knew that _of course_ the father of these two adorable boys _were married._ But Jaehwan’s speech got into his head and made his hope went a bit higher that he’d liked to.

_‘Well so what if he’s married? Either way he’d still be my friend. It’s not like that I like him or something… Right?’_ Hakyeon questioned himself, though he’s not sure about the answer.

“You guys are with your mom today?” Hakyeon asked the boys and smiled again, while nodding his head to the _presumably mother_ of the boys.

“Mom?” Hongbin tilted his head, looking genuinely confused. Sanghyuk on the other hand, walked away and grabbed Eunji’s hand to drag her closer to Hakyeon.

“Aunty Eunji…” He then said while smiling at Hakyeon, then he looked up to Eunji and pointed to Hakyeon, “Coffee hyung!” The he giggled, which followed with his older brother’s laughs.

“Oh, so this is Coffee hyung?” Eunji softly asked the maknae and he nodded eagerly. “Hal— halmoni said… Coffee hyung is the best!” Sanghyuk added.

Having heard the story from Hongbin before they were going to the cafe, Eunji understood and nodded. He smiled at Hakyeon, “Hi! I guess I should call you Coffee oppa then?” She giggled, “I’m their father’s little sister, which makes me the aunty! The best aunty ever, you can say.” She grinned.

———

“How did you manage to get close to them in such a quick time!” Eunji exclaimed while chatting to Hakyeon. As usual, the cafe was almost empty at this hour and when Eunji asked about that Hakyeon dismissed it by saying that people usually come to the cafe for afternoon coffee or tea rather than breakfast.

Hakyeon laughed, “I don’t know. But my mom did say that I’m pretty good with kids. And I do like kids in general.” He then patted Sanghyuk’s head, “Especially when they’re this adorable, I just can’t help myself.”

Eunji chuckled, “It’s actually rare to see them got so excited to meet someone that I didn’t know. There are only a handful of people who could got close to them outside our family.” She continued and smiled, “But I’m glad.”

Hakyeon only gave the younger woman his trademark sincere smile as his answer while still paying attention to the boys who were currently busy eating their quiche.

“I’m also glad that Taekwoon oppa finally had the chance to make a new friend.” Eunji said fondly. “My brother… He’s so young, yet he’s so busy. Most of his time are for these boys. He loved it, of course, but he rarely got time for himself.”

Hakyeon listened to the younger sister’s words thoughtfully. There’s a question tugging him behind his mind that he wanted to ask to her badly but he deemed it would inappropriate to ask. He was lost in his own thoughts when he felt a piece of quiche was presented in front of his mouth. Sanghyuk was the one who wanted to feed him. He smiled.

“No, Sanghyuk-ah, that’s your meal. You should eat that.” He said softly and tried to feed it back to the maknae but the maknae refused.

“Hyung… should eat too.” The maknae said again while giggling, hand still stretched towards Hakyeon’s mouth. So Hakyeon’s complied and ate the piece, “Now it’s your turn to eat again, okay?” He asked while assisting Sanghyuk to cut the quiche into little pieces.

“Mmm’kay.”

———

“Appa!”

Taekwoon entered the door of his apartment at 7PM and he immediately trapped in a group hug by two little kids.

“We ate quiche with Coffee hyung today!” Hongbin said, “And Aunty Eunji also went with us!”

Taekwoon smiled, ruffled both of the boys’ hair while still hugging both of them. “So… did you two have fun today?”

“Yes!” Both of them answered at the same time.

“Good!”

The father kissed both of them on the forehead and after that the boys left for their room to resume what they were playing before their father came. Taekwon stood up and smiled to his little sister, “Thank you for taking care of them, Eunji-yah. I’m sorry that you can’t go out with your boyfriend today.”

Eunji shook his head, “Nah, he understands.” Then she grinned, “And it also made me to have the chance to meet my possible future brother in law.”

“Wait. What?” Taekwoon tilted his head when it hit him whom Eunji met during her visit to the cafe. “No, Eunji-yah, that’s not it.”

“Well Hongbin and Hyukkie sure said that you like him, _oppa._ ” Eunji said again and trying her best not to laugh at his brother. “He seems nice though! I quite like him. I would love it to have a brother in law like him.”

“Jung Eunji!” Taekwoon glared to his sister even though it’s apparent that he did that because he was embarrassed. “I only met him several times at the cafe, it’s nothing like that!”

“My, my.. You still try to lie to your one and only sibling? How could you!” Eunji faked a hurtful expression even though she didn’t do it particularly well since she kept bursting into laugh.

“But seriously, oppa. If you like him, then go for it. It’s been a long time since I saw you in a relationship. Your last relationship was before the boys came and that was three years ago…” Eunji smiled softly at her older brother, “You know, he seems to be genuinely cared for the boys, and he seems to like you as well. I can see it when I introduced myself as your sister. I was tempted to call myself as your wife though, just to see his reaction.” She grinned.  
  
“Yah! Tell me you didn’t pull anything funny back then!” Taekwoon glared again to her sometimes-loveable-sometimes-annoying-little-sister.

“Like what? Like saying that my brother is helplessly crushing on him?” She laughed again, “No oppa, of course I wouldn’t. But I meant what I said earlier, if you like him.. Then go for it!”

Taekwoon sighed a breath of relieve hearing her answer and then decided to go to the bathroom when he noticed how sister motioned a sign of _‘fighting!’_ to him before she went off to bid a goodbye to her nephews.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Re-reading this again before posting it and I actually cringed. HARD. But then, this was written 4-5 years ago, so what do I expect.
> 
> I'm comparing it to the Jaehyungparkian story I'm currently writing and realised how my style of writing hasn't actually changed that much. Maybe just a bit less cringy, but still similar with the way I always randomly painted over a setting or background for the character/story in such a long narrative that sometimes I forgot to add any conversation at all.

Sunday morning. Taekwoon was up very early, at 9AM, considering it was his day off. He woke up feeling rushed and slightly panicked because he thought he had to do more overtime work at the office today, but then relieved when remembered that he managed to finished all of his work the day before. So now he got the whole day to spend with his boys, and it brought a smile to his lips, just thinking about that.

The father quickly washed his face to chase away any sleep that still lingering on his eyes and shifted his way to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and stared. He just realised that he ran out of proper food to cook for the boys, and even things as trivial as milk and cereal were gone. He sighed.

_‘I should’ve noticed this before it completely ran out like this…’_ He mentally slapped himself. Though this gave him an idea of what to do with his boys today.

“Hongbin-ah… Sanghyuk-ah…” Taekwoon softly tried to wake up both of his sons. The older boy stirred and opened his eyes.

“Appa… I’m still sleepy.” He rubbed his eyes adorably. “Are we going somewhere?”

Taekwoon smiled at his oldest son, “I’m sorry to wake you up, Binnie. But how about going to grocery shopping today? You’ll like it!”

It was true though, Hongbin did love grocery shopping. He was always fascinated by the high shelves and long aisles the supermarket got. And he also thought that they can buy literally anything from the supermarket, because he saw how supermarket got every sections of many things that he could think of. His favourite aisle was the cereals aisle, because he and his brother both got to pick their own favourite cereal box.

So an hour later, after the whole ordeal of Hongbin who got overly excited about going grocery shopping in which he couldn’t stay still and kept rushing his father to go, and Sanghyuk who thought that it was funny to continuously splash his father with water during bath and resulting in Taekwoon being completely drenched in a mixture of soap and water, the father and sons were ready.

Taekwoon was dressed in a blue and purple checkered plaid shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, black skinny jeans and simple black and white converse, completed with a black long coat. While Hongbin was wearing his favourite black hoodie jacket with his blue Snoopy t-shirt underneath, a pair of jeans, and just like his father, a pair of black and white converse. Last but not least, Sanghyuk the maknae wore his white ducky t-shirt, topped with a red jumper, and topped again with another black jacket. A pair of jeans, and a simple blue sneakers. All and all, the three of them looked more like a siblings rather than father and sons.

Taekwoon grabbed his car key, “Let’s go, boys.”

———

Five minutes of driving and Taekwoon pulled his car on the car park in front of a certain coffee shop near his apartment. He was actually planning to take the boys to eat in the eateries around the supermarket but Hongbin kept saying, _“Appa, I’m hungry and I want coffee bread!”_ With Sanghyuk giggling and nodding at everything his brother said. So Taekwoon gave up to his kids’ request and made a stop at Hakyeon’s cafe. Though deep in his mind, he did want to meet Hakyeon, he’s just didn’t voice that thought out loud.

“Welcome to Coffee Drop! What can I do for you today?” Taekwoon heard a familiar greetings upon entering the cafe, though it’s not coming from a familiar voice that he had hope to hear.

“Oh! Good morning, sir! You’re Hakyeon hyung’s friend, aren’t you?” A barista he recognised as Jaehwan greeted him. He remembered Hakyeon mentioned that Jaehwan was his cousin and also one of the three co-owners of the cafe. Hakyeon’s cafe was a family business after all.

“Hello. I’m Jung Taekwoon.” Taekwoon simply replied him with a small smile which Jaehwan responded with a smile and a nod, indicating that he already knew who Taekwoon was.

“Hi hyung!” Hongbin suddenly greeted the barista with in a cheerful tone, “Where is Coffee hyung?”

“Hello Hongbin!” Jaehwan replied while grinning, “Today is Hakyeon hyung’s day off. So he’s not here.” With his answer, Jaehwan saw how Hongbin’s expression suddenly changed from excited to a disappointed one.

“But I want to meet Coffee hyung…”

Jaehwan then scooted closer the 6 years-old, kneeled in front of him, and ruffled his hair. “How about this? You and your brother eat something for breakfast and then I’ll call him to come here because his favourite customers are here.” He grinned at the two little boys.

“Ah no, you don’t have to do that.” Taekwoon interrupted, “I don’t want to bother him on his day off…” He said that, but just like his sons, he was actually disappointed by the fact that he couldn’t meet the golden-haired barista.

“That’s okay. I’m pretty sure he won’t mind it.” Jaehwan insisted.

“But—“

“Ah, come to think of it, I think it’ll be better if I just give you his number rather than if I’m the one to call him. I’m sure he’ll be more pleased that way.” Jaehwan grinned and reached a pen and paper on the counter, quickly scribbled a chain of numbers on it.

“Here.” He gave the paper to Taekwoon, “That’s Hakyeon hyung’s number. Feel free to call him and… _Good luck!_ ” He whispered that last part of his words, but Taekwoon sure did hear that. So before Taekwoon could even question his action, Jaehwan quickly shifted his attention towards the two boys in front of him.

“So boys, what can I do for you today?”

———

“Appa! Call Coffee hyung now, quickly!”

Taekwoon and the boys were now inside the car, they were ready to go to the supermarket after having a filling breakfast in the cafe, except that now the boys kept whining for Taekwoon to call their dear Coffee hyung since Jaehwan told them that he had already gave their father Hakyeon’s number.

“Coffee hyung…” Sanghyuk said while pointing to Taekwoon’s pocket, where he kept his phone. “Call hyung… Appa!”

“Quickly, appa! Call Coffee hyung to come grocery shopping us! Appaaa~!” Hongbin also whined.

The father sighed and took out his phone from his pocket. “Fine, fine. But you have to promise that you wouldn’t whine or cry if he couldn’t come. Okay?” He asked his sons, which was answered by a bunch of giddy nods from both boys. He then fished out the paper Jaehwan gave him earlier from his coat pocket, stared at the number and muttered, “It’s his day off, it shouldn’t be spent with going grocery shopping with us like this…”

But he dialled the number anyway. He did feel bad, but if it means that he got to meet the golden-haired man, then he’s perfectly okay with it. _‘Sometimes a little selfishness is fine.’_ He thought to himself.

_“Hello?”_ A familiar voice greeted him from the other end.

“Uh… H—hi, Hakyeon. Sorry for calling you like this.” Taekwoon answered with a slight stutter. To be honest, he was wrecked nervous. It felt like he was a school girl who had a crush with her classmates and decided to give him a call. _‘Gee, you’re being cliche and gross, Jung Taekwoon. Stop it already.’_ He mentally slapped himself, again.

_“Who is— Taekwoon?”_ Hakyeon replied with a surprise voice. Not a bad kind of surprise though. It’s more like pleasantly surprised and it was a good sign for Taekwoon.

“Ah yes. Jaehwan gave me your number…” He explained, “And I’m so sorry for bothering you on your day off.”

_“That’s okay.”_ Taekwoon heard a chuckled from the slightly older man. _“Wait. Did something happened that you had to call me like this?”_

“No, no, no. Nothing happened. Everything’s fine.” Taekwoon took a deep breath, “The boys and I were visiting your cafe earlier, and since you weren’t there, both Hongbin and Sanghyuk keeps whining that they want to meet you.”

_“Really?”_ Another chuckle, _“They’re so adorable!”_

“Yeah, so… Uhm. The boys were asking if you wanted to come with us for grocery shopping.” Taekwoon explained and quickly added, “But you don’t have to, if you don’t wanna.”

Then Taekwoon heard a hearty laugh from Hakyeon. _“Can you put me on loudspeaker please?”_ Hakyeon requested, so Taekwoon did.

_“Hello boys.”_ The barista greeted.

“Coffee hyung!” Both Hongbin and Sanghyuk replied excitedly. “You can come, right? Right? Hyung!” Hongbin giddily asked again.

_“You guys want me to come?”_ Hakyeon asked the boys and got a loud ‘Yes!’ as an answer from both brothers and it caused him to giggle. _“Okay then, tell your father to text me which supermarket it is and I’ll see you guys there!”_

“Yay! Bye hyung!” Hongbin excitedly ended the conversation while rocking back and forth on his seat, completely not noticing how a smile and a slight blush has crept into his father’s face.

———

Taekwoon and his sons were just off from the supermarket car park and walked towards the entrance when an excited voice from a golden-haired man greeted them. “Hi!”

Hakyeon sat on the bench near the entrance, obviously waiting for the family to arrived before going in to the supermarket. Taekwoon stared at the barista for a moment. He noticed that the barista wore a simple long sleeve grey t-shirt with jeans and boots, completed with a dark green long coat. His hair was messy and looked unkempt, but Taekwoon was just so in love with his hair and he thought that Hakyeon’s hair looked good no matter how the latter styled it. This was actually Taekwoon’s first time to see the other out of his work uniform and decided that he liked this casual version of Hakyeon better.

“Hi hyung!” Both Hongbin and Sanghyuk greeted Hakyeon excitedly and ran towards him, which was responded with a hug and some ruffles to the boys hair.

“Hey, sorry to bug you on your day off.” Taekwoon sheepishly smiled.

Hakyeon returned the smile and patted the father’s shoulder. “Nah, that’s okay. I wasn’t really doing anything anyway. Doing grocery shopping with you— I mean, with the boys sounds way more fun than being alone at home doing nothing.” He grinned and hoped that the taller man wouldn’t notice his slip up. He quickly shifted his attention towards the little boys, “Come on, shall we enter now? It’s cold out here!” He then grabbed both boys’ hand, Hongbin on the right and Sanghyuk on the left, and entered the supermarket like that.

Taekwoon smiled at the scene in front of him and quickly followed them behind.

———

“Do you have a shopping list?” Hakyeon asked the father, which responded with a sheet of paper being handed to him. He observed the paper and noticed how long it was. “Whoa. This is practically everything!” He chuckled, “Someone forgot to stock food at home.”

“I was too caught up with work.” Taekwoon sighed, “What a stupid thing to do for a parent like me.”

Hakyeon laughed, “Now, now, stop the self-blaming. Since we’re already here, I’ll help you with this.” He waved the shopping list in front of Taekwoon. So after putting Sanghyuk on the baby seat on the shopping trolley, the family _plus Hakyeon_ wandered around the supermarket.

“Hmmm.. You need this, and this, and this.” Hakyeon took various fruits and vegetables and put it inside the trolley once they arrived on the fruits and veggies section of the supermarket. He noticed how Hongbin’s face grimaced upon seeing the veggies. He laughed, “You, little boy, have to eat vegetables!” He then lightly tapped the little boy’s nose.

Taekwoon chuckled, “He absolutely hates vegetables.”

“What? Whyyyyy?” Hakyeon gave the boy a mock glare, “It’s good for your body and it makes you healthy, Hongbin-ah.” He explained.

“It tastes weird.” Hongbin pouted, “But appa always makes me eat it.”

“Well you heard what Hakyeon hyung said, didn’t you Binnie?” Taekwoon answered with a chuckle again, “It’s good for your body and it makes you healthy.”

Hakyeon then kneeled in front of the boy and lightly pinch his cheek, “You see your father? He’s tall and has a good body, that’s because he ate a lot of vegetables! Don’t you want to become like him?”

“I can be like appa?” Hongbin questioned with a curious gaze in his eyes.

“Of course you can. That is if you eat veggies.” Hakyeon grinned. “Hmmm… When I have time, I’ll visit you and cook the most delicious dishes with lots of veggies in it, how’s that sound?”

“Okay!” Hongbin grinned and continued to march to the other aisles.

“You eat a lot of healthy things, I’m glad.” Hakyeon said to Taekwoon while eyeing Hongbin who walked in front of them. “It’s really important for kids their age to get the best food they can, they’re still growing after all.”

“Well,” Taekwoon explained, “I was a poor eater back then before these two came. I literally would only eat instant noodles every single day.” He laughed, “But that was three years ago. These two boys changed my life drastically.”

The nagging question was back on Hakyeon’s mind but he still thought that it was inappropriate for him to ask it, except if Taekwoon decided to explain it himself. So he chose to keep the question in his mind.

“You seem to know many things about kids,” Taekwoon stated again, “and you also seem to love little kids in general.”

Hakyeon nodded, “Ah well, I do love kids. And I used to volunteer and do a lot of work with kids during my time in university. Mostly with sick kids in hospital.” He smiled sadly. “I think that’s why I have a soft spot for them.” He then caressed Sanghyuk’s cheek, whom currently busy eating his lollipop while sitting on the baby seat in the trolley.

“I see…” Taekwoon nodded.

“It must be a wonderful feeling, isn’t it? Having these two adorable boys?” Hakyeon asked, eyes back to Hongbin who’s busy taking snacks and put it inside the trolley.

The younger chuckled, “Well, it’s more like an overwhelming feeling. One moment I was just a fresh university graduate who’s still trying to do his best at work and the next thing I know is that I have two kids to raise on my own.” He then laughed, “But yeah, it is a wonderful feeling indeed.”

Hakyeon listened carefully to Taekwoon’s answer and tried to process every single thing the younger said but then a shout distracted him. “Appa! Hyung! There the cereals are!”

Taekwoon then chuckled again and pushed the trolley a little bit quicker to follow Hongbin who’s already ran towards the cereal aisle. “Come on, before he rampaged the whole shelves of cereals all by himself.”

———

Hakyeon ended up being on the Jung Family’s apartment after they were done with grocery shopping because both Hongbin and Sanghyuk asked (more like _nagged_ ) him to come. He reckoned that he got nothing better to do anyway, so why not? He helped Taekwoon to put the groceries to its place, and even clean the fridge for a bit before putting in the fruits and vegetables he took earlier, while the boys were sleeping in their room since they fell asleep at the car earlier, being too exhausted after wandering around the supermarket for almost two hours.

“Thank you so much for helping me with this.” Taekwoon smiled sheepishly at the shorter man after he was done putting the last cereal box on the shelves, “You could probably spend your day off by resting or going out with your friends but you’re doing this instead.”

Hakyeon was just done with the fridge and he then chose to sit in the dining chair. “That’s okay. I’m glad I can help you.” He grinned.

“Do you want something to drink? Tea? Or coffee? Or maybe something else?” Taekwoon offered. “That’s the least I can do.“

“Since you offered, tea then. Thank you.” He smiled.

Taekwoon quickly took out two mugs and heat the water. He then opened a shelve which showed a variety of teas and coffees. He got most of it as a gift from either his boss or his co-worker at the office. “Which one would you like?” He asked Hakyeon, smiling.

“Whoa.” Hakyeon exclaimed, amazed by the amount of coffees and teas displayed, “Nothing too fancy, please. I think that plain black tea with sugar and milk would do just fine.” Hakyeon grinned and pointed at the one of the common store-bought tea in the shelve.

“Okay. One cup of nice hot tea coming right up!” Taekwoon mimicked the way Hakyeon served his customer at the cafe and grinned. He then carefully made the tea for him and his guest. “Here. I hope I didn’t add too much sugar and milk in it.” He took a seat at the dining chair across Hakyeon.

“Thank you,” Hakyeon received the mug and took a sip, “Ah no. It’s nice. I really like it.”

Taekwoon laughed. “Never thought that I will ever receive a compliment from a barista who seems to know more about drinks than me.”

Hakyeon smirked, “Well, I didn’t say you’re better than me.” He laughed.

“Okay, okay, I admit my defeat.” Taekwoon chuckled and took a sip from his own mug.

Hakyeon’s eyes wandered around the apartment. He could clearly see almost all side of the apartment from his current position, especially the living room with its huge book shelves. It’s actually not that big of apartment, it was simply furnished yet it felt so homey. He observed the apartment a bit more when something caught his eye. It was a big wall in one side of the living room, with a tree ornament decorated the wall. But instead of leaves, he could see that it was a collage of pictures that was stuck in each of the branch of the trees.

“Do you mind if I take a look at that?” He asked the younger for permission and pointed at the wall.

“Ah, of course not.” Taekwoon smiled and nodded.

So Hakyeon stood up and scooted closer towards the wall. It was a lovely piece of ornament, he thought to himself. He observed carefully each one of the pictures collaged there and noticed that there were various pictures taken from various occasions. On the lower parts of the tree, there were picture of the boys, some from their birthdays, holidays, or many other daily occasions like when they were sleeping. There were also pictures of Taekwoon himself, from his graduation, pictures with a woman he could recognise as Eunji, pictures with an elderly couple whom Hakyeon assumed was Taekwoon’s parents, and many others.

But then his eyes wandered off to a picture of a beautiful woman in a wedding dress standing in between Taekwoon and another man while making a V-sign. The other man and Taekwoon were dressed in tuxedos and also smiled brightly. Hakyeon just noticed that these two people were the same people from some of other pictures of Taekwoon. And then he saw another picture of Taekwoon with the same woman holding a baby on her hand, whom Hakyeon assumed was a baby Sanghyuk, while the man holding a smaller version of Hongbin.

_‘Is this Hongbin and Sanghyuk’s mother?’_ Hakyeon asked himself. _‘She’s sure a very lovely lady… But who is this man?’_ Hakyeon stared at the red haired man in the picture.

“You like it?” Taekwoon asked from Hakyeon’s behind which startled the latter, since he was so absorbed in his own trail of thought.

“A—ah. Yes. It’s very unique.” Hakyeon managed to reply.

Taekwoon smiled, “My best friends set this up for me several years ago when I was just moved here. They said as my memories grows, then this tree will grow too.”

“Really?” Hakyeon stared at the tree again, “That’s a really nice thought. Since you can put more and more pictures in this tree every time you made a new memory.” He smiled. “You have such a good friends.”

“Yeah,” Taekwoon smiled sadly, “They were.”

Hakyeon stared at Taekwoon. He noticed how the latter just used a past tense to describe his best friends. He tilted his head questioningly but didn't say anything. He just saw Taekwoon sighed and walked closer to the tree.

“You see this picture?” Taekwoon pointed at the picture of him, the woman whom looked like Hongbin, and one other man. “Their names are Lee Minhyuk and Woo Jihye. They were my best friends from high school.” Taekwoon then caressed the picture. “Minhyuk was my first friend during high school, then when I found out he got a girlfriend, I became close to her too.” He smiled. “We spent most of our time in high school together. And all three of us then moved to Seoul for university together, since we’re all applied to the same school.”

He looked at Hakyeon, who’s paying full attention to what he said with a curious gaze in his eyes. Taekwoon was not sure where was the feeling coming from but looking at Hakyeon, he suddenly felt a feeling of assurance, like Hakyeon was a friend whom he knew his whole life despite the fact he had only knew the latter for several months. So based on these feelings, he decided to tell everything to the older and continued his story.

“Those two got married pretty early, during their first year of university, and they got a son soon afterwards. Jihye didn’t even finish her study because of that. She said she’ll going back to school once her son is old enough. Skip two years later, and they got another son. Their life seems very hectic with everything, but they looked happy. So I was also very happy for them.”

The younger then sighed and went silent for a moment. Hakyeon patted him on his shoulder, “I’m sorry.” He said, even thought he’s not sure what he was sorry about. He just felt like he shouldn’t said anything about the tree, since the younger looked sad while talking about his best friends.

“That’s okay,” Taekwoon sighed again. “A year after they got their second son, both Minhyuk and I were graduating from university. After graduating, I was really busy trying to start my own life by getting job and moving to an apartment of my own, which was this exact apartment that you’re currently standing in. Those two were also trying their best for the sake of their children.”

He chuckled, “And then I remembered several months after the graduation, Minhyuk and Jihye were talking excitedly about going on a road trip with their kids, since they didn’t get the chance to do that when they were still newly weds. So a week before they started their road trip, they came here and set this tree up, putting some of our pictures together, saying that they’re sure that I’m going to miss them. Since their road trip would last for quite a while.”

He paused a moment to think and then continued, “Ah, it’s also because at that time I was just got dumped by my boyfriend for two years. I remembered that I was weeping for weeks because of that, and I almost skipped the job interview for my current workplace. Those two were the one that comforted me and said that I have to let it go and do the best for myself.” Taekwoon laughed while reminiscing his past.

_‘Boyfriend?’_ Hakyeon thought, but he decided not to interrupt the younger’s story and only nodded while continuously patting Taekwoon’s shoulder.

“And then they went on their road trip. After they left, I didn’t hear anything from them for almost two weeks. Until…” He sighed for the nth times, “Until one night I got a call from a hospital in Daegu, saying that those two were involved in single traffic accident in the expressway. Their car slipped due to heavy rain and hit the concrete block of road separator. I immediately went there to check on their condition but by the time I arrived there, they’re already pronounced dead.”

Taekwoon blinked away the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes, “Then there were their kids, who got no one to take care of them. They weren’t harmed in the accident, but their parents…” He took a deep breath, “They were still babies… Hongbin was only three and Sanghyuk was one years-old. It’s impossible for me to hand them to either Minhyuk or Jihye’s family, simply because they got none. Minhyuk’s parents has both passed away, and Jihye was raised only by her grandmother… But of course, as their best friends I didn’t have the heart to give their children away to the foster care. So that’s why, after getting the consent of Jihye’s grandmother and the agreement from both of my parents and sister, I decided to adopt and raise the boys myself.”

Hakyeon saw how Taekwoon was quivering to hold back his tears while telling him the stories. So he did the next thing he could think of, hugging the taller. He repeatedly patted and caressed the taller’s back while saying, _‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you about it.’_ and _‘That’s okay, you can cry.’_ And cry Taekwoon did.

Some minutes passed and the younger has now gotten calmer, still enveloped in Hakyeon’s hug. The shorter man then brought both of them to sit on the sofa nearby, hands still on the younger’s back. Seeing the worried expression on the older’s face, Taekwoon wiped the remaining tears on his cheeks.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry for bursting like that. It’s been three years since it happened, so I’m not sure why I still got all emotional talking about it.” He chuckled and awkwardly scratched his neck, “That was embarrassing. Crying like that, in front of you. You must be weirded out.”

Hakyeon laughed, “No, I’m not. A man should be able to shed their tears and wipe off their sadness, it shows just how strong a man is. So I like it when a man is brave enough to cry.” As soon as he realised what was just blurted out from his lips, Hakyeon’s eyes went big, his mouth gaped, and his face reddened. “I—I mean…”

Taekwoon stared at him and smiled, “Do you like me then?”

“WHAT? I—“ Hakyeon was taken aback by the question, but he saw the younger laughed. Tears stain was still apparent on his face but the trace of sadness that he saw earlier had faded. Instead, he saw a smiling Taekwoon sat beside him. He felt relieved. “YAH!”

Taekwoon chuckled, “I’m just kidding.” He then shifted his gaze towards the boys’ room. “So now you’re probably realised who the boys actually are.” He smiled.

Hakyeon took a deep breath in attempt to cool his face down caused by Taekwoon’s random question, “I’ve been always wondering about the boys’ mother, since they never talked about her. Which I thought was a bit unusual for kids they’re age. It’s always appa this and appa that. But then I felt like it would be inappropriate for me to ask you about that.” He then also gazed at the boys’ room. “Never once it crossed my mind that they’re not biologically yours.”

Taekwoon chuckled. “Before adopting them, I’ve never thought of myself as a parent, let alone having a kid to raise.” He then eyed the man sitting beside him, “Since I’m pretty sure that two men can never be able to make a baby on their own.” He smirked.


End file.
